Ocean Depths

Haze lingered like a thick soup. All of the paralyzing fear drained out a long time ago. The cold bite of claws faded, leaving only hollow bodies. Even lacking terror, it shaped and molded everything with its will. Uncontrollable and dominating, in its absence, it was like a vessel in want of substance. A strange sensation. An uncomfortable one. Unwanted, undesired, disgusting.

A smell of burnt metal and cardboard still clung to the air. It twitched his nose, finally fully alerting him. Yori jerked his body with everything rushing in to fill the void. He wanted to stand up, but couldn’t move properly. With his consciousness back, the situation became transparent to him. ‘I’ve been captured…dammit!’

Wrist tied above his head and left on his toes, he couldn’t get his feet flat enough to stand. He fought to keep straight. Though his flailing grabbed the attention of their captors. Stares and smirks were exchanged between a few as they started to gather. A few sinister chuckles came out, but they mostly kept a fair distance from him.

Only one stepped forward, judging from the respect granted in everyone’s reaction. He stood taller than his height allowed, but bled attention. A few scars decorated his face, roughing it up, but he still maintained a very proper, almost regal presentation. He was a criminal like the rest, but he definitely fancied himself superior.

Refined leather gloves enchanted with arrays. A soft silk scarf draped over his neck as if he stepped out of an opera show. The black luxurious suit screamed money. They walked with self-importance. But stood out effortlessly from the crowd. Mana almost rippled around him. He shouldn’t be standing here. The Veil should have taken him away.

A military grade sorcerer.

Yori tried to rotate a little to see if Miho was nearby. She was strung up like him on his right, though with her red jacket stripped from her. It made her tattoos nearly dominate her appearance. They clashed with her simpler attire. Bold color with multiple creatures and icons packed all the way up her arm in a full sleeve for both.

It hadn’t been the first time he saw a sorcerer use tattoo catalysts; it was a common workaround for casting spells on this side of the Veil. And given that most of them were criminals, they fit in well with the yakuza, and few actually knew the difference.

“What’s a government dog doing in my neighborhood?”

“I’m just a hunter. Sometimes my employer happens to be the government. Whoever pays the best. You know how it is.”

He stepped forward two paces, still arms crossed. “If that’s all it is. But hunters don’t go around with a Sumeragi.”

Yori kept a poker face while internally clicking. The sword came from an alternate space stored in his rings, so it disappeared the moment he went out. He hoped that, in the fighting, they didn't have the keen eyes to notice his sword. This man wasn’t someone he saw in the halls. It must have been someone he heard it from.

“That would be a fine prize. They’re quite tantalizing.”

They stepped into Yori’s space now, looking up a little with him hanging. In a swift strike, he punched Yori in the gut. Flickers of mana rained off his fist. “I’m not fond of liars.” Yori’s body rocked back from the weight of the blow. He coughed heavily, feeling that despite his enhancements. They even seemed to realize that having a strengthened blow would be the only meaningful way to harm Yori. It didn’t break a rib, but it definitely bruised.

“Then…we’ll get along nicely.” Another blow to the stomach forced up some spit, shaking his whole body. There was more put behind it that time. He might have broken something. It hadn’t been since his training that his body felt so exposed. “You going to ask a question? Or just exercising? I’d like my bruising to be even.” That remark earned him a third, producing a bit of a groan.

“You’ve got quite the training. I don’t find many anti-sorcerers that feel like a brick wall.”

“I guess you don’t get around much.”

“Perhaps. But that is distinctive training.” They stepped back, making a small loop. It looked like pacing but felt more like teasing. There was going to be more pain, but they drew it out in anticipation. “Who are you really? You’re not a hunter.”

“Just a hunter.”

The scarred gentleman looked at Yori as he rounded back his loop. “Just a hunter?” In the moment, it looked like he would strike him once more for failing to give a proper answer. But instead, he swung at Miho, hitting her straight in the stomach. The impact threw her up into the air like she was a doll. Saliva coughed up along with what seemed like stomach acid.

She came down hard on her bindings, sounding like her shoulders groaned in complaint. Her body hit so fast her knees nearly seemed to slam into the floor. Miho choked shallowly as her whole body still heaved. “As I said before, I don’t like liars.” Once she recovered enough, Miho pulled herself up to present a face of fierce defiance. However, it was clear to everyone that it hurt her deeply. She lacked the enhancement training common to Japan.

“Perhaps asking better questions would encourage better answers.” Miho glared at Yori for continuing to provoke the man. He straightened up a little more, attempting once more to find his footing to bait them. “Don’t like a challenge?”

“Oh, I’m fond of them. But you’re far too eager. I don’t give people what they want. I extract answers. That’s my job.”

“Then get on with it.”

Walking back towards the mob of suits, quiet whispers went out. After a moment, one of them rushed off to a different part of the storehouse. They returned, handing an item to the man before resuming their stoic pose in the group.

Yori exchanged a look with Miho, both uncertain about the plans. The interrogation clearly wasn’t over. But his training gave him some resistance to most things. Not that he could speak for Miho’s capabilities. She looked to be a sorcerer completely through. Talented in martial combat as Miho seemed, she clearly lacked physical resistances. More importantly, he wondered how good her mental training had been.

But they would have their answer soon. The scarred man approached the two of them. An unfamiliar device extended from his hand. Or perhaps it was a magic item from the age of it. Rust gathered a little on the metal that twisted together until looping out into two circles. Rope and fabric were strung to it, looking almost ritualistic in nature. Yori felt an uneasy instinct from it.

“You’ve wasted much of my time here and made quite the mess of business. So, as much as I would love to take my time extracting the truth out of the two of you. I can tell you’re not cheap material. My patience has its limits.” The item suddenly rose from his palm to float surrounded in a pale red-blue aura that wrapped around the intertwined metal.

Initially, Yori didn’t notice anything happening from it. But immediately, there was a groan from Miho. She recoiled and started to convulse in her bindings. And then it hit him in a sudden wave like being drowned. Pressure tried to rush into him like it was water. An ocean with waves of heavy sea threw upon him repeatedly. His breath sucked away, and his body constricted. Every part of him shook, fighting something unseen.

And then it all disappeared and he could breathe, gasping for air. He panted softly, feeling his body racked already just from one encounter with the item’s presence. Yori tried to look at it to understand what happened. It wasn’t a spell from what he could tell. No illusion created what happened. The mana in his body was completely vibrating out of sync. He could barely focus it. It was almost akin to mana sickness, but rather overdosed.

“Seems the sorcerer understands. If you don't wish for this to continue, then you answer all my questions.” However, to his disappointment, Miho refused anything more than recognition of the tool. “Very well. Everyone breaks.” The tool rose back up, renewing the suffocating experience on both. As though it was being forced down into their lungs, expelling out all of their air, it was inescapable. Their bodies burned from the inside.

The ocean would take them if they didn’t answer.